Hello,
One week ago, I took in a kitten that my uncle found. His name is Patandishki or Pandemonium, but I call him Panda for short.
Panda is about three weeks old–black and white, male, Hemingway, apparently long-haired. He’s about 10.5-11 ounces. I took him to the vet a few days ago, and we found out he has an eye infection. He also has a wound on his tail. I’ve been treating the eye infection, and the right eye seems fine. The left eye is cloudy and relatively useless in appearance. His wound seems to be doing well, and it doesn’t seem to be hurting him.
Panda has just learned how to use the litterbox, and he seems to have a decent enough appetite. He’s nice and plump, but not potbellied. He has a very tiny head in comparison with his body.
He sleeps most of the day, but when he’s awake he either wants me to hold him or he tries to get away to go exploring. I think this is normal kitten behavior. He also purrs loudly and he usually meows when he’s hungry.
So, according to this he sounds rather healthy, right?
On the way to the vet last Thursday (today is Sunday), Panda meowed and tried to get out of his box all the way there. On the way back, he slept the entire time, because I think he was tired. He seemed a little more tired and listless than usual a few days afterwards, but we attributed it to the visit to the vet and a bath the day after. It was a lot of action for such a little baby.
When I first got Panda, he would attempt to bat his left ear with his back paw. I thought this was just normal “scratching an itch” behavior. Today, I woke up and saw Panda in the litterbox, having just urinated and defecated on his own. I was positively thrilled. After he got out of the litterbox, he wanted to be held. I picked him up and stroked him, and he kept moving his head so that it would be underneath my hand. Basically, he tried to make it so that I would be stroking him the entire time. After a few moments, I put him back in his box. When I saw him a bit later, he was tilting his head severely to the left. I wasn’t sure why. At first I thought it was because his left eye seemed fogged, and I figured he was tilting his head so that he could see better in all directions with his right eye.
He’s still tilting his head, and it looks almost as though he’s having trouble keeping it up. It doesn’t seem to hurt him, although he does have trouble eating in that position, and he keeps meowing (I think out of hunger.) He’s slept most of the day, and he can move his head to the right. He just won’t keep it there. He keeps it tilted severely to the left. I read up on the subject and realized that it could be a simple ear infection, or it could be something severe. When I saw him later today, he was holding his left ear back and then he tried to scrape it on a paper towel in his box. He sort of tries to bat at it, too. I’ve already checked inside his ears, and I’m not sure if he has mites or an infection. Sometimes he’ll roll onto his back and then shake and struggle to get to his feet again, which he’s never done before. I don’t think that’s a seizure. It looks a lot as though he’s trying to scrape something out of his left ear. Poor baby.
He spends most of his time sleeping now, but when he’s not sleeping he wants me to hold him. He settles his head on my hand so that he doesn’t have to support it. Then he’ll relax. He calmed when I massaged his neck and ears, and he doesn’t seem to be in pain. I know when he’s irritated or in pain he’ll often let out a little yelp. He still purrs often and loudly.
I’m taking him to the vet in two days (which is the soonest possible day that the vet is available; otherwise it would be earlier). I could wait until then for a verdict. I’m not the sort of person to personify an animal, but I can’t stand seeing the poor baby in this pathetic state. What do you think could be the problem? Is there anything I can do?